it's a turn based RPG. you have over 400 monsters to collect when assembling your 6 man dream team :P. you can choose what skills they'll have, and if you're REALLY into it, you can even train them for specific stats and breed pokemon for certain stats too. if you spend the time to EV train a pokemon, you can really have an edge. because of a general lack of competition (these games have only had offline trading/battling until now), i personally havn't EV trained a whole lot -- however, i do have a blissy that i EV trained that should wreck shop and i can't wait to bring it online :P.

you aquire these monsters by catching them in the wild (there are a few you'll get with in-game events and if you're really into it, you might have a chance to get a special one in a real-life event :P).

the game's story basically involves using your monsters to fight other trainer's monsters until you beat the best of the best. the story is basically just something you beat so you can get to the meat of the game. i think for most people, the meat of the game is finding your most wanted pokemon, training them up to fighting standards, and then testing your team against friends. since the original games, they've added a TON of features.

I didn't want to get diamond but I am anyway due to some of my fave pokes being exclusives in that version. Tyranitar and dialga for one and I want rampardos who has the higest attack power in the game without something stupid like traunt holding him back, RAWR! slap him with rock cart (rock version of agility) and let him rip.